Forever and Almost Always (3 page)

I wasn't sure what time it was, but the sun was slowly starting to get lower and lower. I tied my top back up and glanced over in Taylor's direction. She was totally passed out, so I made my way inside to grab a new soda, since mine had gotten shaken up in the process of me hurling it at Taylor earlier. After I closed the fridge, I noticed a few cars outside of Wilton's house. The first one I noticed was a silver Trans Am parked half way between our houses and then I saw the maroon truck back in the driveway. My heart rate accelerated and I quickly ran out to grab Taylor.

"Girl, the truck is back. I think he might be home."

"You do realize you sound like a complete stalker right now, right?"

"Ha ha, and honestly I don't give a shit. You have to see him. Come on." I tugged at her arm.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming."

We made our way into my kitchen and sat at the computer desk that faced his house. I know I seemed like a stalker, however if that was the case, then Taylor was now my accomplice. I clicked on the computer and started pretending to do something, anything that made all of this seem less creepy.

"Holy hotness, is that him?"

My heart practically jumped into my throat at the mere possibility of seeing him again. When I looked up, I caught sight of a very tall and lanky good looking blonde guy. It wasn't the guy from earlier, but this guy was
almost
as good looking.

"No. I don't know who that is." I let out a very loud audible sigh and turned my attention back to the computer screen.

"Well that guy is hot. We need to find out who he is too." She laughed.

"I can go ask him for you, if you want me to." I giggled.

"Yeah, as soon as you go talk to your guy."

I play punched her in her arm before turning back around. Just as the chair came to a stop, so did my eyes. They became locked on the tall blonde guy, and
my
guy. Earlier did not do this guy justice, he was indescribable. He was running his hand across his buzzed sandy blonde hair and laughing along with his buddy. His teeth were amazingly white and perfectly straight, but nothing mattered when those striking blue eyes turned in our direction. I knew they couldn't see us because the blinds were turned up, but he seemed to be looking at something.

"That's him." I whispered in Taylor's direction.

"Why are you whispering?" She whispered back.

I cleared my throat and stood, pulling her up with me. I drug her through the kitchen, the living room and then out back. Before she could even react to what was going on, I was diving into the deep end of the pool. I held my breath, only letting out small bubbles to keep me at the bottom. I was acting ridiculous. I was never intimidated by guys, hell; they were usually the ones intimidated by me. I was a bit of an aggressive girl, but not to an off-putting point. I just went after what I wanted, but this time what I wanted, didn't seem the least bit interested. I opened my eyes under water and noticed a dark figure standing at the edge of the pool. I let out the last little bit of air I had left, as I pushed myself up to the surface.

"Charlee, someone is at the back wall for you." Taylor laughed.

I looked in the direction of Wilton's house, when my watery eyes got caught in the ray of those mesmerizing blue eyes I had just seen. They instantly locked on mine, and I was suddenly speechless. I quickly walked up the steps of the pool, hugging my hands to my chest as a cool breeze floated over my hyper sensitive wet skin. As I got closer, his lips parted into a wide smile and I almost tripped over my own two feet.

I wasn't sure what he was expecting me to say, but once I got over to the well I didn't need to say much.

"Hey." Oh that voice! I closed my eyes for a brief second to take it in, before opening them and giving him my full attention.

"Hi, I'm Charlee." I didn't offer my hand, but I didn't need to. He was already propped up on the wall, looking down at me.

"Hi Charlee, I'm Dax. I just figured I should come introduce myself, seems how Wilton already knows you."

I could sense a small hint of irritation as he spoke about his roommate knowing me, but I left it alone. "Well it's nice to meet you. So what are you guys up to tonight?"

His eyes went wide, and I wondered if maybe I was being too forward. "Oh you know..."

Huh? No I didn't know. I gave him a perplexed look and then turned to introduce Taylor. "This is my girl Taylor. Taylor this is Dax."

She waved, and then went back to lying on her lounge chair, ignoring both of us completely.

"She seems fun." He winked.

"She is, she's just moody right now." I raised my hand to shield them from the sun, so I looked up at him. My tongue slipped out, wetting my bottom lip as I took in each facet of his adorably handsome face. He looked like a mix between Paul Walker and Kenny Chesney, weird I know, but so fucking hot. My mind flitted to thoughts of his bare sweaty back that I had seen earlier and I could feel the wetness pooling between my legs. When I caught sight of the dimple in his left cheek, I almost came right where I stood. What the hell was going on with me?

He cleared his throat, just as I realized that I was staring. "Well you guys are more than welcome to come over anytime. A couple of us are just hanging out. I have to get up super early for work, but you guys are coming over for sure for the party tomorrow night, right?"

I was at a loss for words, so I just simply nodded and smiled. When words still failed me, he must have taken that as his cue to leave. He jumped down off the wall, landing on the retaining wall on their side of the fence.

"Alright, well I guess I'll see ya around."

"Yes you will." I mumbled before turning on my heel, and walking the five feet to my lounge chair next to Taylor.

"Well that was smooth." Taylor laughed as she rolled over.

I was determined to get to know Dax, if it was the last thing I did. There was just something about him that I was drawn to, and it was more than just his good looks.

Chapter Five

Dax

I must've had the widest smile when I walked back into the house, because the guys wasted no time giving me a rash of shit. I just laughed it off and nodded towards Aaron. "Hey man, you want to get out of here?"

"Yeah, where you want to go?" He grabbed his keys and we both walked out the front door.

"Let's go grab something to eat."

We took off down the street and I couldn't help but wonder if Charlee would take me up on my offer to come by tonight. I was silently hoping she would, but if not, no big deal. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself. All I could see every time I blinked were her long tan legs, her small waist, her overly plump breasts, oh who was I kidding? I couldn’t stop thinking about everything about her, including those perfectly enticing lips. Oh man those lips. I could only imagine the things that she could do with those given the chance. Every part of my body wanted to feel her against me, feel her smooth skin against mine and run my fingers through her long silky hair. I shook my head and turned my attention to the radio. I didn't want to go too far, just in case her and her friend came by, but I didn't want to appear pathetic and stay home all night either.

Her friend was pretty good looking too. She looked to be a little bit taller than Charlee, but they had the same sky blue eyes. Though I couldn't tear my gaze away from Charlee while I was talking to her, I noticed that her friend was almost the complete opposite of her, body wise. Where Charlee was thinner and had a small tight ass, her friend was a little bit thicker with a decent sized ass. Her chest was nowhere near what Charlee's was, but she still filled out her bikini top. In place of blonde hair, she was a box-died auburn. It didn't quite suit her, but she wasn't who I was interested in, so I didn't really give it much more thought than that.

Just then, an idea clicked in my head and I knew it would almost guarantee that Charlee would be around more. "Hey bro, so I met the neighbor's friend Taylor earlier. I think you'd like her. She's definitely your type."

"I bet! Are you sure you aren't just saying that so you have a better shot at getting into your neighbor's pants?"

He knew me all too well, and though getting into her pants sounded amazing; I had the feeling I wanted more. "Well it would help." I let out a throaty laugh.

"Maybe I'll go over there and introduce myself. But I'm not taking one for the team, if you can't close the deal on your own."

Asshole!

I was more than capable of closing the deal with a girl, although this particular girl
did
seem like she would be more of a challenge. We went through the drive thru at Jack in the Box and then headed straight back to the house. I shoveled as much food as I could into my mouth before we reached my street, in hopes that she would be there and I wouldn't have to waste my time with her eating. I felt my cell buzz in my pocket, just as we pulled up outside my house. I checked the caller ID and noticed it was Trevor. Without a second thought, I answered and went off.

"Dude, seriously?? Thanks for leaving me hanging today. You're fucking lucky Wilton was home to help me with the rest of my shit. What the fuck, bro?"

"Sorry man, I had to get home and do some shit for my mom before I could go out tonight. What's your deal?"

"Nothing man, its just fucked up that you straight ditched me."

"Sorry bro. What are you guys up to tonight? There's a huge house party just a couple blocks away from mine. You guys wanna go?"

Conveniently enough, Trevor's house was only a neighborhood away from where I was living now, and as much as I would have loved to go to a house party, I seriously needed to see Charlee.

"Nah man, I think we're just gonna hang out at my house tonight."

"Okay, cool. Well tell everyone I say what's up. I'll see ya tomorrow."

I hung up, thankful that Trevor didn't want to come over. I loved the guy to death. Hell, he was like a brother to me, but he had a way with the ladies that made me look like a chump. I wasn't willing to give up on her just yet, especially not for my best friend. Aaron looked over at me before exiting the car and I followed suit seconds later. I glanced over at Charlee's house, noticing that all of the lights were currently off. Hopefully that was a good sign. We made our way up the walkway and I could hear voices drifting through the night. I knew Wilton and a few others, but then I stopped dead in my tracks as I recognized that small, melodic sound. Fuck, she was already here. Damn it! Wilton would definitely be vying for that piece of ass, if I was slacking. I walked a little bit faster and swung open the screen door like I owned the joint.

"Hey, hey." I shouted. A couple people responded back, but I didn't hear her voice in return and I didn't see her anywhere. What the fuck? Now I was imagining shit.

Chapter Six

Charlee

Taylor and I wasted no time showering and getting all prettied up before we headed next door. We didn't go all out like we did for parties, but I made sure that he would notice me one way or another. As we walked across the yard, suddenly my nerves shot through the roof. I rarely, if ever got nervous about hanging out with a guy, but this guy was a whole other story. He was something entirely different.

His looks alone made me feel like I was back in high school, and he had this way of looking at me, as though the rest of the world ceased to exist. When we knocked on the door, I could feel my heart practically beating out of my chest, just thinking about him answering it. When Wilton was the one to answer, my hopes deflated a bit and I was suddenly a little bit irritated.

Why would he ask us to come over, if he wasn't even going to be home? I gave Wilton a small hug and introduced him to Taylor as he ushered us inside. I glanced around the room and down the hall, wishing he would somehow appear before my eyes. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. My smile fell a bit, and Taylor was quick to notice.

"Hey, do you wanna go?" She was whispering just in case anyone was listening.

"No, I'm okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." I plastered my fake smile back on my face and walked the rest of the way into the living room.

"Everyone, this is Charlee my next door neighbor and her friend Taylor. Charlee and Taylor, this is everyone."

Everyone gave a small wave and we hesitantly reciprocated.

"You ladies want something to drink?" Wilton was making his way into the kitchen as he asked.

"Yes please." We both responded in unison.

Taylor and I took a seat on one of the empty couches, as everyone else continued their conversations like we weren't even there. There were three other guys and two girls, but Wilton never told us their names, so starting a conversation with any of them was going to be hard.

"This sucks." I whispered to Taylor, just as Wilton was bringing us our beers.

"I know, hun. Let's just hang out for a little bit longer and if he doesn't show up, then we can go over to Tim's house. Sound good?"

"Works for me." We clanked our beer bottles together and took a long pull. After a few minutes of the rest of the group ignoring us, we decided to head out back to smoke. I made sure to look out the front screen door, just in case Dax was coming home. Just as we slid the glass door shut to the backyard, I finally peeled my eyes away from looking for him. I wasn't about to start chasing after a guy I barely knew, especially when I wasn't even sure if he was interested. And if tonight was any indicator, then I was pretty sure he wasn't.

I lit my cigarette and took a long drag. "This seriously sucks. Why would he even ask me to come over?"

"I don't know, hun. Maybe he just ran out for a bit. His hot friend isn't here either." We both laughed as we finished our beers.

"They're both pretty fucking hot though, huh?" I took another drag off my cigarette and almost choked on the smoke when Taylor's eyes went wide, and she broke out in a fit of laughter. I was quick to follow suit and laugh right along with her. I was trying to catch my breath when Taylor's laughter quickly faded into silence. I turned to see what she was looking at, when his eyes met mine. My heart rate spiked and I literally couldn't find a single word to say, which was odd for me.